The developers behind a new search engine called Powerset are attempting to change the way we communicate with our computers. Instead of always modifying our queries to something that machines can understand, i.e. “iPod”+”reset”+”KCRW podcasts,” founder
Barney Pell would like to have web search learn to understand the way we speak: “Why does my iPod reset itself when listening to KCRW podcasts?” There is more to this than just saving time reformatting your searches:

Pell lays out a convincing argument that natural language search is important in order to communicate meaning and intent. He uses example searches to make his point - “book for children”, “book by children”, and “book about children” are all equivalent to “book children” to search engines today. His core argument is that there may be no way for us to properly express the query “books by children” without using natural language.

I think this is a really exciting idea. There have been numerous occasions where I have needed to find a page quickly but have wasted time trying to figure out how to tell Google that I was looking for “that thing” not that “other thing.” I think this concept was originally attempted by Ask.com (formerly AskJeeves) so I have to believe the concept will live or die on its execution and accuracy. If Pell and his team succeed, they could make searching as we know it today seem incredibly archaic.